“Healing may not be so much about getting better as about letting go of everything that isn’t you – all of the expectations, all of the beliefs – and becoming who you are. Not a better you, but a ‘realer’ you….People can heal and live, and people can heal and die. Healing is different from curing. Healing is a process we’re all involved in all the time. Healing is the leading forth of wholeness in people. I think that healing happens only in the context of our imminent awareness of something larger than ourselves, however we conceive that.” (Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., founder and director of the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness at Commonweal, Bolinas, California)

I started to write this week about focus…but I got sidetracked…wow, that about sums me up in a sentence. But sometimes you really do have to just go with the flow and let yourself get carried to where you need to be. And the mind/body connection kept popping up, one client expressed a feeling of disconnect, another client had a similar experience under hypnosis, even one of my youngest yoga students approached me and talked about not feeling…as in her feelings seemed dulled and distant.

And with that a new “focus” for the week emerged. After all the mind body connection is what I do. A friend summed up what I do like this: Complete Wellness Facilitator, Your mentor for physical, emotional, and spiritual health. And that my friends is what it is all about isn’t it? For imbalance in one area throws the others off. If you live wholly in the spirit the body suffers, and vice versa. But I struggle to put this in a brief blog – books, dissertations, volumes have been written on the subject. What more could I possibly say? What haven’t you heard already? Probably not much, but maybe just maybe hearing it here will lead you in a new direction, perhaps today is the day that you need to hear it, or maybe today is the day your are ready to do something about it.

1. The Breath. The breath is arguably the only act that lives both in mind and body. What other bodily function happens both automatically and conciously (the heart beat may be included as well, but not as readily or easily) The breath happens without thought…it is of the body. However, the breath changes with thought control…it is of the mind. The breath changes depending on the emotion you are feeling…it is of the spirit/emotion. When we focus on the breath and realize how thoughts change the breath and breath changes the body we connect deeply and completely to the mind/body connection. The breath heals and restores, the breath changes everything and thought can control the breath.

“The human body, like everything else in the cosmos, is constantly being made anew every second. Although your senses report that you inhabit a solid body in time and space, this is only the most superficial layer of reality. You body is something far more miraculous – a flowing organism empowered by millions of years of intelligence. This intelligence is dedicated to overseeing the constant change that takes place inside you. Every cell is a miniature terminal connected to the cosmic computer.” (Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, p. 8)

2. Thoughts are things. What you think you become.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.Buddha

What you think today is your future. It’s like the birds of the feather flocking…it is why so many of us get trapped in our stories. When we replay over and over what has befallen us we are destined to stay stuck there. To change your thoughts is to your change your life experience. One thought, one action, one moment at a time. If you aren’t happy with something physical, emotional, or spiritual about your existence now you begin with the thought process…free your mind and the body will follow. THIS IS NOT A CALL TO GUILT AND BLAME!!! I myself fell into this trap at first and I see it time and time again. This does not mean if your life isn’t what you hope for yet that you are FAILING…you aren’t. You are learning, you are growing, you are becoming (or undoing and uncovering!)

3. We are spiritual beings having a physical existence. Now my point of view on this may get a bit of disagreement from some other philosphies, blame my studies with tantric teachers…but I think we are meant to truly experience the physical and the spirit is meant to be present for all the experiences. Mmmmmm….how to explain. your spirit chose this body to feel what this body feels…to escape that is to escape the purpose, the fullfillment of this manifestation. If we spend too much time in spiritual pursuit solely, it is my belief that we are missing out on the point of this incarnation. This belief is based on the view that life is not a punishment and that we are not trapped here by misdeeds or karma. Life is an experience, a joy, a game if you will. One that we are meant to enjoy and relish and get better at playing. My studies in past life regression, spirit attachments and the like has led me to understand life as a vast experiment and we are both the rat and the scientist in our personal laboratory. It is through both pain and joy that our soul more fully understands the whole of existence.

‘The world is like a ride at an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think it’s real because that’s how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it’s very brightly coloured and it’s very loud and it’s fun, for a while.

Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: Is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and hey come back to us, they say, “Hey – don’t worry, don’t be afraid ever, because this is just a ride.” And we … kill those people. “Shut him up. We have a lot invested in this ride. Shut him up. Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and my family. This just has to be real.” It’s just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. But it doesn’t matter, because – it’s just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It’s only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money.

A choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one. Here’s what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.’

Bill Hicks

Asana (yoga pose) for the week:

Warrior I (Virabadra Asana I):Focus on keeping the hips squared to the front of your mat in this posture and tucking the tailbone under by strongly engaging the lower abdominals. Engage the inner thighs toward one another and feel the sensation of energy being pulled up into the midline of the body. The heart center should shine skyward.

Wellness Tip of the Week:

GROUND!! Sure you can experience the physical with yoga, with exercise…but there are other ways. Get into the garden, roll in the dirt (OK at least put your feet in it!) Pick a single piece of fruit and savour each and every bite. Hug your best friend (husband, child, pet…) for the longest time you have ever hugged them. This isn’t about being hedonistic and over indulging this is about the simple pleasure of being incarnate on earth…learn to love your earth suite just as it is in all it’s glorious imperfections. Still feeling out of sorts…massage or reflexology or other excellent ways to reconnect with the bliss of our humanity. If you want a more spiritual mind/body connection let your grounding be for good. Join a highway cleanup crew, volunteer at a shelter, go stand on the corner and join the free hugs project, plant a tree or volunteer with habitat for humanity.

Mantra for the week:

inhale: I love exhale: this life

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About Aminda R. Courtwright

Aminda is a wellness facilitator and founder of ARCreated Wellness, LLC. A yoga teacher, transpersonal hypnotherapist, and Reiki Master, she shares her own healing journey with others in hopes of inspiring and uplifting those she meets. Her yoga classes are gentle and workshop style to invoke a real sense of learning and designed to be truly accessible for all levels. Her biggest hope is to help others take their yoga practice off the mat and into everyday life where it is truly meant to be experienced. (and can be most useful) Refusing to settle into the middle path just yet she prefers to dally on both edges and can be seen swinging right and leaning left. A devoted animal lover and activist and a humanist she is prone to rants and believes strongly that life is to be savored and that “we are all in this together, shouldn’t we enjoy it that way? “ When she isn’t teaching yoga, hypnotizing people, adoring her husband or doting on her grandson she is out riding her motorcycle—promoting the image that yogis are rebels and are a force to be reckoned with! You can also find her on Facebook. To join her for free classes online follow her here.

97946One Responsehttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.elephantjournal.com%2F2010%2F11%2Fwe-are-spirits-in-a-material-world%2FWe+are+spirits%2C+in+a+material+world...2010-11-10+00%3A02%3A28Aminda+R.+Courtwrighthttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.elephantjournal.com%2F%3Fp%3D97946 to “We are spirits, in a material world…”

[…] years in this body, I’ve come to experience no greater truth than that of the cliché expression, we’re spiritual beings having a human existence. The thing is though, that’s been the most sincere and honest experience […]